WASHINGTON – The nation’s largest grassroots opponent of environmental extremism and advocate of property rights urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday to more carefully examine Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s radical green agenda, and how it will threaten Americans’ lives, prosperity and freedoms should she be given a lifetime Court appointment.

“There is no bigger threat to your property and liberties than a radical green extremist with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” said Donny Ferguson, WTP National Director of Media and Public Affairs. “Barack Obama is waging an all-out war on American jobs and prosperity, and Elena Kagan is his nuclear option.”

“She’s going to the Supreme Court with marching orders – enforce the Obama administration’s radical green agenda and stop any constitutional challenges to his authority,” said Ferguson.

As creator of Harvard’s “environmental law” program and a committed radical green, Judiciary Committee members should pay careful attention to Kagan’s agenda of unquestioned government control over private property and employers.

Specifically, Judiciary Committee members should ask Kagan:

Where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to create environmental regulations?

Do you agree the Constitution does not give the EPA the authority to issue its own regulations?

Do you agree the White House and Congress have no authority to enter into global environmental treaties that supercede state laws and constitutional limits on federal power?

Do you agree the Court violated states’ rights in its 2004 Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency ruling that stated the EPA could override state environmental regulations if the EPA feels they are not strict enough?

Do you agree the Court was in error in its 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA ruling that stated the EPA must regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant?

Do you agree the Constitution’s “commerce clause,” which was written to prevent states from engaging in trade wars with each other, does not give the federal government the authority to create a “cap and trade” system?

The radical green community was thrilled when Barack Obama named Kagan to his administration last year.

“Under Kagan, we are likely to see the government take a less hostile approach to environmental enforcement,” a jubilant Matt Kenna of the Western Environmental Center told The New York Times upon her nomination as Solicitor General.

The Times reported “expanding regulatory enforcement of wetlands under the Clean Water Act and broadening the applicability of the Endangered Species Act to include the effects of climate change” may be at the top of her agenda.

A darling of the “green” activists who believe courts and judges should actively prosecute and punish employers, Kagan spearheaded the development of an “environmental jurisprudence” program while dean of the Harvard Law School.

“She left a nationally visible mark on environmental law at Harvard,” Jim Rossi, a visiting environmental law professor at Harvard, told the Times. “For many years, Harvard was not known for a primary expertise in the environmental jurisprudence, and that changed under Dean Kagan’s watch.”

As an advocate of aggressively using courts to legislate the radical green agenda, many of Kagan’s hires at Harvard are now shaping policy for the Obama administration. One, Jody Freeman, is now Obama’s counselor for energy and climate change in the Obama White House.

Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources. For more information, go to http://www.westerntradition.org. For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.

You’re hearing it. I’m hearing it. But I don’t believe it for a minute.

“Senate sponsor of a climate and energy bill says supporters are still short of the 60 votes they need to advance the legislation. Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut says about 50 senators support the bill while 30 others oppose it. That leaves 20 or so senators undecided.” – Associated Press, June 20, 2010

“The cap-and-trade bills in the House and Senate are dead. The concept of cap-and-trade is going to be replaced.” – Sen. Lindsey Graham, Feb. 27, 2010

Why don’t I believe it?

Because I’ve heard it before. And so have you.

“Lieberman’s comments confirm that Democrats in the Senate do not currently have enough votes to move forward the health care plan laid out on Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).” – CBS News, Oct. 27, 2009

“The reason you’re not going to have a government run health care pass the Senate is because it would be devastating for this country” – Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) June 21, 2009

Congress won’t pass ObamaCare? We all remember how that rock-solid “prediction” from Lieberman, Graham and the media worked out.

Now they’re saying the exact same thing about Cap and Tax.

This is how liberals operate. They preemptively declare defeat, and wait until you and I leave the battlefield before they launch their assault.

And they’re doing it again. They insist Cap and Tax isn’t going to pass.

You know, the exact same thing they said about the “dead” ObamaCare bill.

The radical greens are already furiously at work cobbling together something that will at least get the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent.

Right now that looks like a Cap and Tax system that – for now —will only cover power plants.

The big power companies are all for it.

They know that it will send your utility bills skyrocketing, but they also know that massive price hikes will put their smaller competition out of business.

They’re willing to take a massive hit if they know it will clear the playing field of competition.

The media, radical greens and Senate leadership want you to think Cap and Tax is dead. It’s exactly what they did to take the heat off wavering senators and congressmen and buy themselves time to craft a final ObamaCare bill.

And they’re doing it again. As the furor over Cap and Tax dies down every time a senator steps in front of a TV camera to declare they don’t have the votes to pass Cap and Tax, behind the scenes they’re writing multiple versions of Cap and Tax and burning up the phone lines to come up with something – anything – that can pass into law and inject Cap and Tax into our economy, knowing they can keep going back and adding to it until they have total control of they economy.

There’s only one way to stop them – keep up the pressure, turn up the heat and kill any and all forms of Cap and Tax.

WTP is working around the clock, adding names to our popular NoCapAndTax.com petition and churning out letters, faxes, postcards and phone calls in opposition.

We must step up our campaign. The constant, conflicting, media reports that Cap and Tax is “dead” while radical greens are coming up with new versions of it every day is proof Cap and Tax is closer than ever to passing.

That’s how they passed ObamaCare. And it’s how they plan to pass Cap and Tax.

Donny Ferguson
Western Tradition Partnership
National Director of Media and Public Relations

P.S. It seems like every day there’s a new media report that Cap and Tax is dead and there aren’t the votes to pass it.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That’s EXACTLY what they said about ObamaCare – even right up to the final minutes when Congress voted to pass it! Their plan was to lull you and I into believing we were going to win, at which point they’d launch their attack.

It worked then, and they’re planning to make it work again and pass Cap and Tax.

WTP isn’t fooled. We’ve never stopped flooding Capitol Hill with NoCapAndTax.com petitions, phone calls, faxes and letters in opposition. But I need your help to keep up the pressure and defeat their “sneak attack” plan.

Click here or go to https://secure.westerntradition.org right now to rush me your best gift of $10, $25, $35, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you think you can give, no matter how big or small.

Barack Obama will use his first-ever prime time Oval Office address tonight to launch the radical greens’ all-out assault on our economy.

Using the BP oil spill as a weapon, Obama will seize on widespread public anger to claim Cap and Tax will hold “Big Oil” accountable.

“The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has breathed new life into legislation aimed at putting limits on carbon emissions, with President Obama expected to push Congress to pass a bill that addresses both energy and global warming in a national address,” The Washington Examiner reports this morning.

“On Tuesday, hours before Obama delivers his speech, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., plan to unveil the Environmental Protection Agency’s economic analysis of their energy and global warming bill, which includes a plan to cap carbon emissions.”

Well, you and I know those numbers will be rigged by the EPA and that Obama’s lying. You and I know this is nothing more than a scheme by radical greens to use huge tax hikes and big government control to finally achieve one of their prime goals – downsizing Americans’ “too big” prosperity and taking away basic freedoms.

WTP must step up its efforts to combat this Cap and Tax attack in the media, in the halls of Congress and in the mailboxes and e-mail inboxes of the American people.

Barack Obama will use a prime-time national Oval Office address tonight as the launching point of a final assault to pass Cap and Tax.

Help WTP fight back and defeat this plan to eliminate two million jobs a year and take away your retirement and rights. Click here right now.

Thank you for your dedication to freedom.

Sincerely,

Donny Ferguson
Western Tradition Partnership
National Director of Media and Public Relations

P.S. Barack Obama will make his first-ever prime time Oval Office address tonight? What prompted him to use this “nuclear weapon?” To declare war on the American economy by pushing the public to support Cap and Tax.

WTP and our allies have been able to hold back Cap and Tax, but we need your help to battle back as the radical greens begin their all-out, frenzied final assault.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The nation’s largest grassroots advocate of property rights and opponent of radical environmentalism phoned over 35,000 Loudoun County voters Saturday afternoon, warning them of a plan by the Board of Supervisors the media report will lead to higher taxes, more regulation and a loss of property rights.

“The Chesapeake Bay Act was never meant to be adopted here, but the local radical green activist community that controls the Board has found it to be a convenient weapon in their War on Loudoun. It means big tax hikes and the loss of jobs and tax revenue to surrounding counties not controlled by radical greens. Worst of all, it means the total loss of your right to enjoy your home or business,” said Donny Ferguson, Western Tradition Partnership’s National Director of Media and Public Relations.

“The misapplication of the deeply flawed Chesapeake Bay Act, with as little citizen review or input as possible, is a deliberate attack on the property rights of Loudoun homeowners. It is, in fact, a harsh Home Improvement Tax intended to make Loudoun inhospitable,” said Ferguson. “Decades ago, radical environmentalists declared war on suburbia, promising ‘if you build it we will burn it.’ Realizing that using Molotov cocktails means prison time, they now prefer to use draconian legislation and massive tax hikes to carry out their agenda.”

“If you look at the list of wealthy radical groups pushing this Home Improvement Tax, it’s a who’s-who of the ‘get out of Loudoun’ crowd,” said Ferguson. “This is all about driving out human development and providing a safe habitat for hordes of new bureaucrats and tax-gobbling government employees.”

WTP called over 20,000 Loudoun homes Saturday evening warning residents of the June 15 Board meeting on the plan. The call briefly quotes a May 31 Leesburg Today editorial critical of the Board’s planning process that warned the Board’s actions could lead to higher taxes and lost jobs. Over 20,000 homes means roughly over 35,000 voters were contacted.

Residents in the Blue Ridge, Catoctin, Leesburg, Potomac and Sugarland Run districts were urged to call their supervisor at home. Residents in the Broad Run and Sterling districts, whose supervisors have already registered their opposition, were urged to instead contact County Chairman Scott York at home.

Roughly 5,300 Dulles District residents represented by the frequently-moving Supervisor Stevens Miller, whose business phones have been cut off and does not list a reliable home phone number, were urged to contact him on his cell phone.

“We weren’t sure which one of Miller’s homes he’s declaring residency in this week. It was just easier to ask 5,300 people to call his cell,” said Ferguson.

“The people have a simple message for their supervisor and chairman. You’re wrong to raise my taxes and you’re wrong to take away my property rights. There are more of us than there are of you, and you’d better change your position,” said Ferguson. “Unlike the activists who get paid by rich donors to push these radical green crackdowns on private property, the people targeted for these Home Improvement Taxes have to work on weekdays. We hope they can show up and voice their opposition.”

Ferguson served as a Board staff aide to Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio from 2002 to 2007. Delgaudio had no involvement in or input into WTP’s lobbying effort. “This is what I did for nine years before working for the Board, it’s what I’ve done for three years since working for the Board, it’s what WTP has successfully done at the county and state level for two years now and it just so happens this Board is adopting the very kind of radical legislation we oppose,” said Ferguson.

WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization advocating rational, responsible natural resource development and land use policy. WTP is an IRS-approved 501(c)(4) public information and citizen lobbying organization founded in 2008. Unlike radical environmental groups funded by a small cabal of rich activists, WTP is supported by a broad, diverse national membership making generally small donations.

URGENT PHONE NUMBERS. CALL IMMEDIATELY AND TELL THESE SUPERVISORS YOU OPPOSE THEIR RADICAL TAX HIKE AND LAND GRAB PLAN

ALL LOUDOUN COUNTY RESIDENTS
Chairman Scott York: 703-430-7511

BLUE RIDGE DISTRICT
Supervisor Jim Burton: 703-327-4299

CATOCTIN DISTRICT
Supervisor Sally Kurtz: 703 771-5028

DULLES DISTRICT
Supervisor Stevens Miller: 571-291-1478

LEESBURG DISTRICT
Supervisor Kelly Burk: 703-779-0037

POTOMAC DISTRICT
Supervisor Andrea McGimsey: 703-430-7024

SUGARLAND RUN DISTRICT
Supervisor Susan Buckley: 703-450-3861

Western Tradition Partnership issued a phone alert to 20,000 Loudoun County, Virginia residents Friday, warning them the Board of Supervisors will consider on Tuesday a radical green “Home Improvement Tax.”

Misnamed the “Chesapeake Protection Act,” this massive power grab seizes control of Loudoun homes and property, creates millions of dollars in new taxes and fees. The bill in question was never meant to be applied to Northern Virginia and is part of a radical green attack on suburban Virginians.

The area is covers is practically undefined and the plan levies huge fees on residents whose business or home improvement activity disturbs an area greater than 50 feet by 50 feet. Those with property in a “buffer zone” will be forced to hire professional tree experts to catalog every tree on their property. Planting anything other than “native species” will be illegal, practically outlawing gardening and landscaping.

Even “Leesburg Today” attacked the Board’s plan as “flawed” and “costly” saying the Board “overreached” and their plan means “higher taxes” for the entire county. Intended for the Tidewater area, no Northern Virginia has ever adopted it.

WTP urges all Loudoun residents to contact their supervisor and register their opposition to this radical, out-of-touch, tax hike and land grab.

WTP rips Senate for failure to protect American workers from EPA crackdown‘Fifty-three U.S. senators just told their constituents they can go to hell’

WASHINGTON — America’s largest grassroots advocate of property rights and responsible energy policies sharply criticized the U.S. Senate’s failure Thursday to adopt a resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) which would have prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

“Today’s vote was yet another declaration of war on capitalism by the Obama administration. The sound science disproving the ‘man-made global warming’ conspiracy theory has been rejected in favor of the White House’s radical green dogma,” said Donny Ferguson, Western Tradition Partnership National Director of Media and Public Relations. “Fifty-three U.S. senators just told their constituents they can go to hell.”

“This vote preserves the Obama strategy of using the threat of EPA regulation as a weapon to threaten senators into voting for Cap and Tax. It won’t work. Americans have soundly rejected Barack Obama’s global warming conspiracy theories and his plan to use the government to combat it by eliminating two million jobs a year,” said Ferguson.

“Barack Obama is hell-bent on using brute government force to downsize America’s economy and implement an ecosocialist agenda,” said Ferguson.

“The fairy tale that carbon dioxide generated by America’s employer is a toxic gas capable of destroying an entire planet is pure science fiction used by ecosocialists to terrorize people into supporting a disastrous agenda,” said Ferguson. “There is no scientific basis whatsoever to either the EPA regulation of carbon dioxide or the Cap and Tax bill they plan to pass using the threat of EPA regulation as cudgel.”

WTP urges Americans to call their two senators at 202-224-3121 and register their opinion on their senator’s vote on the resolution.

Independent research by the Heritage Foundation, which is not connected to or affiliated with WTP, shows a “cap and trade” bill will cost the American economy an average of two million jobs a year, with 2.5 million jobs lost in the worst years.

WTP does not advocate the election or defeat of candidates. The citizens’ group educates the public and lobbies legislators on issues of environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.

Western Tradition Partnership is a 501(c)(4) grassroots lobbying organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources. For more information, go to http://www.westerntradition.org. For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or donny.f@westerntradition.org.

Join ATP, Stop Gang Green!

American Tradition Partnership (ATP) is a no-compromise grassroots organization dedicated to fighting the radical environmentalist agenda. We support responsible development of natural resources and rational land use and management policies. Only together can we protect access, private property rights, and affordable energy for all Americans!